Will I Be Penalized If My URLs All Have The Same Priority?

A person from Boston wanted to know if there are any penalties given to sites wherein all files in the XML sitemap are enumerated with equal priority. The question stems from a warning against doing so written no less than on Google Webmaster Tools. This is despite the optional status of the priority field. Matt Cutts tries to end any confusion through the video below.

Matt says that there are no penalties specific to this case. Whatever the priorities defined for the list, Google will still dig deeper to determine for itself which ones should carry more weight. The search giant may appreciate each of them in a different way as it uses its own set of standards and protocols. In the final analysis, Google’s independently derived priorities are the ones that truly matter for SEO and not those, which people randomly assign through the XML sitemap.

Given this reality, Matt tells webmasters not to worry about this feature. The priority field is entirely optional and no scoring deductions will be administered just because all URLs are viewed equally by the sitemap. Google does welcome the use of priority indicators but it is not a requirement by any means.

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